utorok 5. januára 2010

Best way to learn drawing?

I ve been reserching the best way to learn drawing for several years by now (I know I should have been drawing instead :)) And I had a big revelation yesterday. Till now I would try to learn something from an anatomy book or any book on drawing and then try to draw something myself. As I am quite critical (=realistic) to my own work I ended up with something that I really don't like and this would discourage and frustrate me. Then it came to me. Shouldn't drawing be fun? Shouldn't each picture you draw motivate you to draw more? I bet that people like Joe Madureira or Frank Frazzeta started as a kids drawing from their favorite comic books!!! Think about it, it is much easier to draw something cool if you are copying something that is already cool. It's not only fun to do that, you actualy learn a lot by doing it and it keeps you comming back for more. And the more you draw the better you get!

To sum it up: Redraw pictures, characters and comic books you love. Than check the anatomy books, perspective etc just so you better understand what you doing and you can redraw it better next time. Once you draw enough you will start to create and draw your own characters and they will be cool :) And the most important part: you will enjoy the whole process. As one smart person said: "What is the point of doing it if its not fun?"

PS: I did some research and found the old copy of Joe Madureira website that is no longer online. Here is excerpt from his Art Advice FAQ:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------....I would say I learned to draw from comics about 75% and books only about 25%. First my anatomy was based off John Byrne figures, then Art adams, Jim Lee, whatever. The anatomy books only helped me to understand what THEY were doing, because up until that point I was just copying what I saw, and didn't really know what I was doing. It was like an amazing discovery, finally learning " Wow, that big lump that Byrne draws on the back of someone's arm is called a tricep! "

.....If you want to draw comics though, there is no better place to learn from than another comic artist. Period. Everything you study afterwards, you can incorporate into your work, but you'll have a better grasp on how to apply it.---------------------------------------------------------------------------